Winry's Halloween
by Tanja the Bat
Summary: Winry loves Halloween, but this year is different. Her two best friends are not with her to share the moment. But when a late night visitor comes in her dreams, what will she feel? EdXWinry. Oneshot. Please R&R.


**Hooray! I've finally written a fic for one of my all time favorite animes! Cookies are on me. Okay, this takes place after the movie, which I thought was totally awesome even though I wasn't satisfied with the ending. I can't help but feel that another one will be coming...**

**I also have this take place on Halloween, seeing as it's that time of year...X3 **

**Okay, okay, disclaimer time. I do not own the characters or anything like that. I don't even know why I bother saying this, it's so obvious. sob  
**

* * *

  
Winry gave the screw one last turn. She smiled proudly. "There. It's done." She wiped sweat from her forehead.

"Winry!" a voice called from outside the room. "Winry Rockbell, where are you?"

"In here, Aunt Pinako!" Winry called back. The door behind her opened with a creak. A small woman came in, smoking from a pipe. "Oh, there you are," she said. "What are you doing? We still need to carve the pumpkins."

"No need," said Winry. She made a dramatic sweep at a small machine next to her. "This baby will do the carving."

Pinako stared at the machine. "Winry, what is that?"

"This, my dear aunt, is a…" Winry scratched the back of her head. "Well, I don't know what to call it yet, but I designed it to carve pumpkins all by itself, with no labor involved."

"Oh, really?" said Pinako, somewhat skeptical. "Does it work?"

"I was just about to test it." Winry rose to her feet and ran out of the room, her platinum blond hair flying from underneath her salmon-colored hair-kerchief. In a flash, she came back with a large, orange pumpkin. She set it down in the center of the machine, closing the glass lid. She flipped a switch. The machine roared into life. It puffed and scratched from the inside as sharp utensils cut into the pumpkin.

Winry pumped her fist into the air. "Success!" she said. "Look out world! Winry Rockbell has done it again!"

"Very impressive, Winry," said Pinako. "But, is it supposed to smoke like that?"

"Wha?" Winry stopped and looked at the machine. Sure enough, puffs of smoke were beginning to billow from the chamber inside. Winry's blue eyes went wide as it startled to rattle. "Run for cover!" she yelled.

She and Pinako dashed out the door, slamming it shut as an explosion boomed inside. After about a minute, Winry creaked the door open, her heart sinking like a rock.

Pumpkin and machine guts were splattered on the floor and on the walls. The heavy smell of pumpkin juice and smoke stung the air.

Pinako grinned knowingly at Winry. "You made this mess. You'll have to clean it up."

Winry groaned.

* * *

Two hours later, after rubbing her hands raw from all of the scrubbing, Winry sat up in her room, polishing her tools. Every once in a while she looked out her window at the setting autumn sun. It would be a few hours before trick-or-treating started.

Halloween was usually Winry's favorite time of year. Decorating the house with cobwebs and all that hoopla, dressing up in costumes, giving out candy to kids, everything.

But this year…This year would be different. Because Winry's two best friends in the whole world, Edward and Alphonse Elric, would not be here to share it with her.

A light tapping came at her bedroom door. Pinako came in. "Winry, are you set for this evening? There's only a few hours left until trick-or-treating starts, you know."

Winry sighed. "I'm not going this year, Aunt Pinako," she said. "I'll stay here and help you pass out candy. Is Sciezka here yet?"

"Well, this is a first," said Pinako. "When you were younger you couldn't wait for this time of year to come. You always made your costumes yourself, and let no one help you." She chuckled. "I remember the year you wanted to go as a wrench. You made a life-size one, and crashed into everything whenever you took a step. I remember how hard it was for you to get out the door. Ed and Al actually had to use Alchemy to get you outside."

Winry's shoulders sagged. Pinako suddenly understood. "You still miss them, don't you?" she said quietly. "It's been nearly a month since they went to the other side of the Gate."

"I know," whispered Winry. "It's just…" She sighed. "This is going to be my first Halloween without them. We always used to go trick-or-treating together when we were kids. And now…I'll never have that joy again."

Pinako kept silent. Winry started to shake a little, trying to keep the tears from falling. "I thought that losing Ed was hard enough. But when I learned that Al had gone through the Gate with him…" Her eyes grew foggier and foggier. "I thought that at least having Al here would help. But now he's gone too."

She squeezed her fists. "And Ed…I never go the chance to tell him how much I—I—"

"You what?" prodded Pinako gently.

Winry gulped, an anime sweatdrop forming on her head. "Uh, nothing! It's nothing!" she said, waving her hands in front of her. She rose from her chair. "Um, does it seem cold in here? I'll—I'll go check the boiler."

Winry was out the door and down the hall in a flash. Pinako stared after her, a smile forming on her wrinkled face.

* * *

That night, the door was abuzz with young kids, coming and going, holding out buckets, sacks, or anything they could think of, filling them to the brim with candy. Winry gave all of them a smile, adoring the assortment of costumes that they chose. Though she wasn't going trick-or-treating, she still had on a costume. Well, if you call simple cat ears and painted on whiskers a costume.

"Sciezka, do you have those cookies yet?" Pinako called from the hall. The small woman was dressed in a witch's costume, complete with a tall, pointy hat.

"I'm coming," called Sciezka from the kitchen. The klutz of the military, who was dressed in a blue wizard's robe, came out with a platter of chocolate chip cookies in her hands. "But I must protest, Mrs. Rockbell. Cooking, or in this case baking, is an art. It can't be rushed."

Winry glared at Sciezka. "Baking isn't art," she argued. "It's science!"

"Art," corrected Sciezka.

"Science!" said Winry.

"Art!"

"Science!"

"Art!

"Science!"

"Both of you cut it out!" ordered Pinako. "Stop behaving like morons and pay attention to the children! Winry, keep passing out the candy. Sciezka, pass out the cookies."

"Yes, ma'am," they said in unison, but not without giving each other a short glare.

* * *

About an hour and a half later, when the last trick-or-treater had left and everything had settled down, Winry said goodnight to Pinako and Sciezka and marched up the stairs to go to bed.

She pulled on her pajamas, which was a pearly white knee-high dress. She brushed out her hair, smoothing out the frizz from the cat ears. She put the brush down on her dresser. Her eyes landed on the picture frame next to it.

She stopped, gazing at the picture inside. It was of her, Edward, and Alphonse when they were kids. Young Winry was sitting on a swing, while young Edward was pushing her from behind. Young Alphonse was sitting on the ground, his dark eyes shining with happy laughter.

Winry picked up the frame, running her fingers over the glass. She felt a lump begin to form in her throat. She swallowed it down. "Face it, Winry, they're gone," she said to herself under her breath. "There's no way they can come back. All you can do is miss them."

She set the frame back down on the dresser roughly. "But where's the point in that?" she spat angrily. "I can't let this run my life."

Anger started to grow in her heart, making her body heat up. "…Why, Edward? Why couldn't you have just waited a few minutes?"

She took a deep, shuttering breath, calming herself down. She then turned off the light a silently crawled into her bed. It was then she realized how tired she was. After a few minutes, she fell right to sleep.

Then she felt a little cold. She reached out her hand to pull the sheets closer to her, but they weren't there.

"Wha?" she said sleepily. She opened her eyes, gasping when she saw that she was no longer in her bed. She wasn't even in her room anymore.

She found herself standing in some sort of courtyard. Tall bushes were standing on each side of her, forming a line that went down a gravel path in front of her. A warm breeze fluttered past, catching her hair and her nightdress. She looked around in wonder. "Wh—where am I?" she said out loud.

The sound of running water reached her ears. It was coming from ahead. Out of curiosity, she followed the sound. The path twisted a little until she came to what seemed like a path circle. Standing in the middle was small fountain, spurting gentle flows of crystal water.

Winry was captivated. She walked over to the fountain, watching the water. She lowered her fingers into the pool. The water had a strange mix of iciness and warmth.

"This must be a dream," Winry realized. "It's a nice one, whatever it means."

"Winry?"

Winry froze, letting out a sharp gasp. That voice…

She looked up, gasping again. Her eyes bugged out, her pupils shrinking.

Standing in front of her, on the opposite side of the fountain, was a young man. He was dressed in brown pants and a cream-colored dress shirt. His golden blond hair was pulled back in a thick braid. (**Yes, people, I prefer the braid to the ponytail!**) His deep yellow eyes gleamed out from beneath his thick bangs.

Winry was in shock. "…Edward…?" she whispered hoarsely.

Edward Elric stood in silence for a moment. Then he smiled his usually warm smile. "Hey, Winry. Good to see you," he said.

Winry couldn't move. Was this happening? Was Edward really here? She felt feeling come back to her legs. She slowly moved down the stone encasing of the fountain towards Edward. "…Are you real?" she asked.

"It's a dream, Winry, but I'm real enough," replied Edward.

"But…how did you get here?"

Edward shrugged. "I don't know. Fate, I guess."

Winry looked him up and down. She noticed that he wasn't wearing his gloves. She could see that his right hand was made of metal, not flesh. His Automail. It was still there.

Edward noticed that she was staring at his arm. He flexed his elbow. "It still works. You always did make the best," he said with a grin.

Winry looked around. "Where's Al?"

"Sleeping," said Edward. "Who knows where his dreams are right now."

"He made it through the Gate alive?"

"Yep. In Equivalent Exchange, he got his memories back too. He's doing great. We both are. It's been tricky not having Alchemy anymore, but we're used to it."

"I see." Winry again felt the lump in her throat. She tried her best to swallow it.

"How's everything in Risembool?" Edward asked.

"Fine. Another Halloween has just passed."

"Ah, yeah. I remember those days. Collecting candy, dressing up, carving pumpkins. That was fun."

Winry said nothing. She still couldn't believe it. Here she was, with Edward, in her dreams. She thought that she would be happy to see him, but…somehow, she wasn't. Something didn't feel right to her, in her heart.

She looked at him again. "You've gotten taller," she said, trying to grin. "I assume that you still don't drink milk?"

"Don't be a dope, of course not," said Edward, his face twisting in disgust at the thought of his most hated beverage.

Winry was feeling herself shake again. She didn't understand it at all. What was wrong with her? She felt like she wanted to say something, but she had no idea what it was.

Edward frowned. "Winry, what's wrong?" he asked. He then scratched the back of his head, forcing out a small laugh. "What am I saying? The only thing that's ever been wrong with you is your temper. I still remember the time you threw that wrench at my head—"

The next thing Edward saw was Winry winding up her arm. Her hand came at his face, slapping him sharply. He was so startled he almost fell into the fountain. His moment of shock was replaced by fury, for Edward was known for his own temper. "What the heck was THAT for?!" he snarled.

Winry was now shaking uncontrollably, which made Edward stop and stare. "You want to know what's wrong, Ed?" she asked viciously. "You really want to know? Well, I'll tell you. I've missed you, Ed. I still miss you. Don't you understand that at all?!"

She lifted her tear-filled eyes to him. "When you went through the Gate two years ago, my heart ached for you every day. But I knew that you would somehow make it back. Do you have any idea how happy I was when you finally did? And then practically ten minutes later, you left again. You left again without even saying goodbye to us. To me!"

Edward found his voice. "How could I say goodbye? I was one thousand feet in the air! And besides, it was the only way I could make it back here. I had to close the portal, Winry. It was too dangerous to leave it open. You saw what happened!"

Winry clenched her fists. She looked back down. "Edward, don't I mean anything to you?" she asked quietly.

Edward bit his tongue as Winry continued fiercely. "You and Al have always left me behind, no matter what was going on! You hardly told me anything about what you were doing! I hated it! How could you call me your friend when you told me nothing? Do you have any idea how that made me feel?"

"Winry…" Edward whispered.

Winry wasn't finished. "I was worried sick for you and Al when you were in the State military, and especially when you battled with the Homunculi. I always thought what in the world I would do if you died. And now you _are_ gone…"

The tears finally spilled. Winry's knees buckled. She sank to the ground, burying her face in her hands. "I don't know what to think anymore. I've felt both sad and angry at you. Not just the both of you. _You_, Edward! I've tried to tell myself that I hate you. But I can't. No matter how much I think I want to, I can't! And it doesn't even matter anyway! You're gone!"

Winry sobbed uncontrollably. She felt a weight lift off her shoulders, as though what she wanted to say for a long time had been said. But she couldn't stop crying. Right now, she didn't care what she did. Tears spilled down her face, dripping onto her nightdress.

Then she felt the warm flesh of Edward's left hand get a gentle grip on her arm. She stopped sobbing for a moment to look at him through her soaked fingers. He was knelt down in front of her. He gently pulled her arm away from her face. He smile was slightly crooked from the welt that had formed on his cheek from Winry's slap.

"I think that you're the one who doesn't get it, Winry," he said, his golden eyes gleaming with warm compassion. "I'm not gone. I'm still here. I may not be with you in the flesh, but I'm still here. Did you really think that I wanted to leave you?"

Winry stared at him through her blurred eyes. She couldn't answer. Edward lifted his hand to her face, rubbing away her tears with his thumb. "You've meant the world to me, Winry. You still do. I don't even think about what my life would have been like if you weren't in it, because it's not what I would have wanted. You and Pinako are the only family that Al and I have left. Did you honestly think that we forgot that? No way we could have. You've cared for us in ways no one else can. You cried for us when we couldn't shed a tear. You don't know what that meant to us."

Edward brushed Winry's bangs out of her face. "We've missed you too, Winry. I've missed you. There was still so much I wanted to tell you, about everything. I guess that's why I'm here now. I have so much to say, but only one thing matters."

"What thing?" Winry asked, as though she hadn't used her voice in years.

Edward smiled even brighter. There was no waver in his voice when he said, "I love you, Winry. I always have."

Winry stared at him again. Her lip trembled. That's what had been missing. Now it was filled. He had just said the words that she had always longed to hear. More tears spilled from her eyes. Without a second thought, she threw her arms around his neck, not wanting to let go. "I love you too, Edward," she whispered through her choked up throat. "I love you so much, it hurts…"

Edward held her close with his strong arms. "Why should it hurt?" he asked somewhat teasingly.

"I don't know. It just does, bean brain," Winry teased back.

"Oh, that's great. First it's my height, now it's my brain, huh?"

"Take like it is, pal," Winry replied as she tapped his skull. She couldn't help but laugh. Her laugh was cut with a sharp breath when Edward pulled her towards him, her face only a few inches from his. "Winry," he said in barely a whisper. "I've wanted to do this for a long time now. Would you let me?"

A warm feeling surged through Winry. She nodded, her blue eyes shining. Edward leaned closer, his lips brushing against hers. He then claimed her soft lips in a light, yet deep kiss. His Automail hand stroked her arm, while his human one caressed her cheek. Winry wanted this moment to last forever.

After a long moment, they parted. Winry felt warmer than ever. She placed her hands on his, which was still on her face. She breathed in his familiar scent, her heart soaring.

Another scent came to her nose. She noticed in Edward's other hand was a blooming white rose. He held it out to her. "Happy Halloween, Winry," he said with a grin. "And all other holidays to come."

Winry smiled. She took the rose in her hands, breathing in its fragrance. She looked up at Edward and noticed he was getting a little fuzzy. Her heart began to sink. "Edward, don't leave yet," she pleaded.

Edward caressed her cheek again. "I love you, Winry. Never forget that, and never forget that I'll always be with you."

He leaned forward, claiming her lips once more…

Winry opened her eyes. She felt softness beneath her and realized she was in her bed again. It had all been a dream, yet the most wonderful dream she had ever had.

Then something pricked her finger. She turned on the light, and gasped quietly.

A white rose sat in between her fingers.

Winry slowly smiled. She turned the light back off, holding the rose close to her heart. "Thank you, Edward Elric," she whispered in the dark. "Thank you for everything. You too, Alphonse. I hope to see you soon."

She kept smiling as she lulled back of to sleep. Things were going to be okay from now on…

* * *

**I rarely ever get choked up when I write...**

**Sooooooo...Whadja all think? Please review and tell me. :D  
**


End file.
